U.S. Marine Corps Corporal Hershel "Woody" Williams explores the Wheatfield at Gettysburg National Military Park, the area toward which the Pennsylvania volunteers were attempting to advance when they were beset by snipers in a nearby cabin.
Warrior Legacy
Connecting the modern military to its historic counterparts
The American Battlefield Trust’s Warrior Legacy project showcases the deep connections that today’s veterans and active duty military retain to their historic forebearers. In doing so, it emphasizes how the landscapes of historic battlefields can be used to bridge those eras.
Warriors’ Stories
The brave men and women who answer their nation’s call and join the military are a special group who embrace a call to service above and beyond self. The same attributes of selflessness, valor and patriotism are present in all those who have worn the uniform, regardless of when or where they served. We honor these warriors’ legacies by telling their stories.
Warrior Legacy films, the flagship storytelling vehicle for this project, is a series of short films identifying modern warriors and bringing them to historic battlefields where they can follow in the literal and figurative footsteps of a past servicemember who had an experience parallel to their own. Watch their stories:
Program Highlights
The American Battlefield Trust is committed to creating powerful content that bridges the gap between modern servicemen and women and their forebearers in uniform.
An active duty servicemember or veteran standing on a historic battlefield has a vastly different experience than someone who has never seen combat. Not only do they instinctively connect with that landscape in terms of military science — scanning for defensible positions, mapping out avenues of approach — they can imprint their own field experience unto soldiers of the past.
Contact us at warriorlegacy@battlefields.org with questions about these programs.
For Active Duty Military
The stereotypical battlefield field trip involves tweens or teens. But America’s battlefields also play host to a very different kind of learning experience for a very different kind of student — typically one wearing military fatigues. In fact, the legislation creating our nation’s first battlefield park, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, explicitly stated its purpose to be “preserving and suitably marking for historical and professional military study.”
Staff rides are a time-honored tradition in the U.S. military and allow participants to examine a battlefield in extraordinary depth, gleaning valuable lessons in leadership and military science. The American Battlefield Trust makes our sites available, offers knowledgeable guides and provides detailed informational packets. Tag along on a Staff Ride:
For Veterans
To a veteran, the thousands of soldiers who waited for an order to charge at Gettysburg or another historic battlefield aren’t statistics in a history book, they are fully realized individuals. The soldiers they envision wear the faces of real-life comrades, friends they lost on a far-away battlefield, even if they carry a musket and powder horn. Connecting their own experiences to their historic counterparts can be a profound experience.
The Trust financially supports American Veterans Archaeological Recovery, a veteran-led nonprofit that helps modern soldiers heal the mental and physical wounds of combat while uncovering secrets of past battles, and has an ongoing partnership with the Wounded Warrior Program, supplying a dedicated site for civic-minded veterans to participate in our national Park Day volunteerism project. Learn more about these programs:
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